Carton.



G. A, ROBINSON.

CARTON.

APPLICATION FILED APB..10,,19 11. 1,007,890. Patented Oct. 31, 1911.

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GEORGE A. ROBINSON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO PNEUMATIC SCALE CORPORATION LIMITED, OF QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

CARTON.

Specification of Letters Patent.

, Patented Oct.31,191 1.

Application filed April 10, 1911. Serial No. 619,921.

To all whom ttmay concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. ROBINSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of- Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Cartons, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The invention relates to that class of car 'tons in which the top is closed by a plurality of overlapping flaps. flaps are employed.

The object of the invention is to provide a self-opening top as it is frequently termed, so constructed thatwhen closed the contents of the package are securely protected against sifting out and which may be easily manipulated to afford an opening to remove a portion of the contents and which may again be closed to securely protect the material remaining in the package. The carton embodying the invention is preferably made of a single sheet of paper.

The invention will be fully understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and the novelfeatures will be pointed out and clearly defined in the claims at the close of the specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of a blank laid out flat of suitable form ready to be folded to form the carton. Fig. 2 is a top plan of the carton as set up with the top flaps folded and the outlet holes closed by the slidef Fig. 8 is a top plan of the same device as shown in Fig. 2 with the slide draw-n out'to open the discharge outlet from the carton.

Referring now to the drawings :The carton blank is scored or creased to form the four sides 1, 2, 3, 1, of the-carton when the carton is set' up, the side 1 being folded around to meet the edge of the side 4:, the same being sealed by a flap 5 which laps onto the inner face of the side 1 and is adhe-.

Usually four sively secured thereto in the ordinary way.

The flap a which is to be the first folded v of the top closing flaps is formed with a hole 10. Thefiap 0 which is to be the second folded flap is formed with a hole 11 which will register with the hole when folded over the flap a. The flap d is slit to form an easily separable portion 30 which is intended subsequently to be completely detached from the flap to form a slide. The slit instead of being continuous is interrupted at three points namely, at the two rear corners 13 and 14 and at the tip of'the tongue portion 15. The stock is also .cut away for a short space on both sides of the tongue namely at 16 and 17 respectively, thus forming shoulders 18 and 19. In the rear part of the slide 30 there is formed a hole 20 which when the flaps are folded and the slide is closed will not register with the holes 10 and 11 but which may register with saidholes when the slide is drawn out. I

.The flap b is formed with a hole 21 which registers with the holes 10 and 11 when the flaps are folded. It is also formed'withtwo smaller holes 22 and 23 which when the flap 7) is folded outside of the flap 03 will expose the connecting corners 13, 14 of the slide member 30 as shown in Fig. 2. The flap b is also formed with an opening 2 1 preferably half round and of a little greater diameter than the width of the tongue portion 12 of the slide so'that when the flaps are folded as in Fig. 2 the rounded front portion of the tongue will be fully exposed through the opening 24 with .a little marginal space around it so that the finger or small blade may be inserted to turn up the rounded end of the tongue in order to get a grasp upon it from the outside.

When the carton is to be set up adhesive 25 is applied to the outer face of the flap a with the exception of a narrow space 26 which is left ungummed for-the purpose to -be hereinafter described. The flap c has adhesive applied to its outer face with the exception of a portion 27 which is'left ungummed extending from the outer end 'of the flap to some distance beyond the openin 11 of sufiicient area to form an ungummed portion beneath the slide when the flap d is folded upon the flap 0. The usual form of the cartons is oblong in cross section, so that the flaps b and d are longer than the flaps a and 0 and when the flaps a and r; are folded they do not entirely overlap each other, and for this reason a narrow band 26 on flap a is left ungummed which will when the flap is folded form a continuation of the ungummed portion 28 on flap (Z.

When the carton is set up and the flaps a, b, 0, (Z, are folded, the flap a will first be turned in, then the flap 0 will be folded outside of the flap a, the two flaps adhering together by reason of the gumnied face of the flap a coming in contact with the under face of the flap 0, then the flap/Z will be folded outside of the flaps a and adhering to the flap 0 and to the exposed portion of the flap a-which will not be entirely covered by the flap 0, then the flap b is folded over upon the flap (Z and will be sealed thereto by reason of the gummed outer face of the flap cl. When they are thus folded the holes 10, 11 and 21 will all be in registration with each other but the slide member 30 of the flap (Z which is between the flaps c and b will cover the holes 10 and 11 so that the contents of the package will be protected, the slide member being still integral with the flap by reason of its connections at 13, 14 and 15.

Now, whenever, it is first desired to remove any of the contents, the connecting portions 13, 14, 15, of the slide member 80 may be cut through with a knife as shown in Fig. 3, thus leaving the part 30 free to slide. The end of the tongue 12 can be reached through the hole 24 and pulled forward to bring the slide from the position shown in Fig. 2 into' the position shown in Fig. 3, the tongue be ing pulled through the hole 24 onto theouter face of the outer flap 7). The shoulders 18 and 19 at the base of the tongue will if the tongue is pulled out far enough engage the shoulders 28 and 29 on the forward ends of the rectangular holes 16, 17 to limit the forward movement of the slide so that it can not be completely pulled out.

In practice the slide will be pulled for-. ward sufficient only to bring the hole 20 into registration with the holes 10, 11 and -21 and thus making a clear opening through all the flaps through which the contents of the package may be shaken out by inverting the carton. After the desired quantity is removed, the slide can be pushed backto again cover the outlet holes 10 and 11 and the contents are fully protected. By this form of construction the slide does not .add anything to the thickness of the cover flap when closed as it lies in thecut out space from which it was taken so that the flaps all lie flatagainst each other. "When it is de sired to again remove some of the contents, the tongue can be grasped to again pull the slide forward to open the outlet.

lif it is desiredv to have the carton made as a sifter then instead of making a single large hole 10 in the flap a or a single large hole 11 in the flap 0 one or both of said flaps may be provided with a plurality of smaller holes. This will enable the contents to be sifted out in fine quantities instead of being shaken out in larger bulk. The size and number of the holes will be governed by the particular class of goods or particular use desired, that is whether desired as a sifter or to get out the goods in larger bulk.

The flaps a, b, 0, (Z, have been described as the top closing flaps because that end of the carton will be the top after the package is filled and both ends are sealed, but in prac tice said top closing flaps will be closed and sealed before the package is filled and before the bottom closing flaps 6, 7 8, 9, are closed and sealed. 'lVhen the package is to be filled the carton will be stood bottom end up so that for the time being the end which is closed by the flaps a, b, 0 and (Z will be the bottom of the carton. After the carton is filled the flaps 6, 7, 8 and 9 will be closed and sealed in any suitable knownananner.

lVhile in describing the device, the side flap'is described-as being folded next to the outer fiap,'it is obvious that it may be folded next to the bottom flap if a tongue hole corresponding to the tongue hole 24 is formed in the two outer flaps. In such case the bottom flap should extend entirely across the end of the box, the essential features being that there should be at least one flap above 1005 and one flap beneath the flap out of which the slide is formed extending the full cross sectional area of the box and in that event it does not so much matter whether the extra flap is above or below the slide.

What I claim is I 1. A carton having overlapping end closing flaps, one of the intermediate flaps having a cut one space surrounded on all sides by the body of the flap, a slide por- 0 tion fitting into said out out space of the flap, all of said flaps except the slide containing flap having holes which are in registration with each other; said slide normally covering the holes in all of the flaps 115 except of the flap or flaps folded outside of it, said slide having a hole-which is normally out of registration with the holesin 'adaptedto' engage to limit the movement of the slide.

2. A. carton having overlapping and closing flaps, one of the intermediate flaps having a slide portion fitting into a -cut out porslide containing flap having holes which are I tion of the flap and having a forward tongue portion, all of said flaps except the in registration with each other, said slide normally covering the holes in all of the flaps except of the fiap or flaps folded outside of it, said slide having a hole which is normally out of registration with the holes in the flaps above and below it, and which is adapted to be brought into registrationa shoulder or shoulders and said slide containing flap having the cut-out opening for the slide formed with a shoulder or shoul other ders which serve to limit the movement of the slide.

3. A carton having overlapping e'nd clos I said intermediate flap having a hole exposing one end of said slide portion, and having holes exposing the said connecting piortions between the slide'portion and the a I n testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

' GEORGE A: ROBINSON.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM A. COPELAND, ALICE H. MORRISO 

